Corporate Visits in Istanbul

Today was our last day of corporate visits in Istanbul. We started off the day by going to Sabancı Holding Company, one of the largest companies in Turkey. First, the Chief Economist talked to us about Turkish economics in general, followed by one of the Chief Straegy Officers, who detailed the major companies that Sabancı holds. It was interesting to see how the major sectors of Sabancı are also the main areas of activity in the Turkish economy; banking and finance are definitely the major areas of economic growth.

After lunch in this little touristy area on the Bosphorous, we went to Kagider, which is the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey. There we heard a presentation about the growing interest in entrepreneurship in Turkey, and how people are trying to get women more involved in this growing trend. The president, Gülseren Onanç, was a manager of pharmaceutical sales in the Soviet Union before her involvement with the association. However, I found it interesting that in addition to entrepreneurs, women who were daughters of famous CEOs (like AKBANK) were also members. She also talked about services the association offers, like business incubation and consulting.

For dinner we went to Sultanahmet, and then Shaistah and I went to a Turkish bath in Chamberlitaş, which was quite an experience. I got an intense massage where this Turkish guy rubbed off a TON of dead skin - it was very weird. Afterwards my body felt so smooth, though. After that, I went to a little restaurant in Taksim with Mike, Maggie, and Tiffany, where we had a few drinks and just people-watched for a while. All in all, another busy yet satisfying day.